Control of automatic guided vehicles without wayside interlocking

Abstract

A vehicle management system for automatic vehicles running on a guideway independent of wayside signals or interlocking devices includes intelligent on-board controllers on each vehicle for controlling operation of the vehicle. The on-board controllers communicate with each other as well as individual wayside devices and a data storage system to identify available assets needed to move along the guideway and to reserve these assets for their associated vehicle.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A vehicle management system for guided vehicles running on a guideway, comprising:
 a) intelligent on-board controllers associated with each vehicle for controlling operation of the vehicle and negotiating movement needs of the vehicle with other vehicles in potential conflict; 
 b) stationary wayside devices located beside the guideway directly responsive to commands from the intelligent on-board controllers to control guideway assets facilitating safe movement of the vehicle along the guideway along a desired route and associated with the wayside devices and required for the vehicles to move along the guideway, said wayside devices having a reserved and unreserved state, wherein in the reserved state the wayside devices and guideway assets associated therewith are reserved exclusively for use by a particular vehicle and respond only to commands from the particular vehicle, and wherein in the unreserved state said wayside devices are available for reservation by other vehicles running on the guideway; 
 c) a data storage system for storing system data including the reserved and unreserved state of said wayside devices; 
 
       wherein the intelligent on-board controllers are configured to:
 i) continually communicate with on-board controllers on other vehicles in their vicinity to determine the availability of guideway assets needed for their associated vehicle to move along a section of the guideway, 
 ii) to reserve the wayside devices associated with the needed assets for the exclusive use of their associated vehicle by communicating with the on-board controllers on other vehicles, the wayside devices and the data storage system, and 
 iii) to release the reserved wayside devices into the unreserved state for use by other vehicles when no longer required by their associated vehicle. 
 
     
     
       2. A vehicle management system as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the on-board controllers are configured to negotiate and resolve potential safe movement conflicts with on-board controllers on other vehicles independently of the wayside controllers. 
     
     
       3. A vehicle management system as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein the data storage system comprises a distributed virtual storage implemented by the on-board controllers such that any failure of wayside equipment will not prevent the system from continuing to safely move vehicles in the system configuration in place at the time of failure. 
     
     
       4. A vehicle management system as claimed in  claim 3 , wherein the data storage system includes a physical data storage system for logging new trains into the management system and managing system configuration. 
     
     
       5. A vehicle management system as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the wayside devices provide device control and status but no movement authority or interlocking logic. 
     
     
       6. A vehicle management system as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the on-board controllers are configured, upon clearing a reserved section of guideway, to send a clearance request message to other on-board controllers, a proximate wayside device and the data storage system to free the reserved section for use by other vehicles. 
     
     
       7. A vehicle management system as claimed in  claim 6 , wherein the on-board controllers are configured to identify the next section of guideway required for the next leg of an assignment, and in response information relating to the reservations made by other on-board controllers set the limit of authority based on the section they can safely reserve taking into account reservations of other vehicles. 
     
     
       8. A vehicle management system as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein at least some of the wayside devices are configurable to detect new trains and log them into the data storage system. 
     
     
       9. A vehicle management system as claimed in  claim 8 , wherein the on-board controllers are configured, upon entry in to the system, to obtain the status of other vehicles on the system from the data storage system. 
     
     
       10. A vehicle management system as claimed in  claim 9 , wherein the on-board controllers are configured, upon entry into the system, to obtain the reservation status of wayside devices in its vicinity. 
     
     
       11. A vehicle management system as claimed in  claim 10 , wherein the on-board controllers are responsive to commands from a vehicle supervision system to obtain destination information, and wherein the on-board controllers are configured to use the destination information to determine which sections of guideway they will need to reserve to enable a vehicle to reach the destination. 
     
     
       12. A vehicle management system as claimed in  claim 11 , wherein the vehicle supervision system is configured to pre-approve reservations based on operational priorities such that when a vehicle requests a reservation from the system it is either accepted based on a prior approval or rejected due to another vehicle having a higher priority. 
     
     
       13. A vehicle management system as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein some of the wayside devices control operation of the guideway and when reserved for a particular vehicle are responsive to commands from the on-board controller of that vehicle to set their operating state. 
     
     
       14. A vehicle management system as claimed in  claim 13 , wherein said wayside devices include switch controllers and platform door controllers. 
     
     
       15. A vehicle management system as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein each intelligent on-board controller is configured to communicate its status and location at intervals to the data storage system. 
     
     
       16. A vehicle management system as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein when a vehicle reaches its limit of authority on a protected section without authority to enter the next section, the on-board controller is configured to stop the vehicle prior to leaving the protected section. 
     
     
       17. A vehicle management system as in  claim 1 , wherein in response to a failure condition, the on-board controllers are configured to stop the vehicle on a protected section of guideway pending further intervention of the system. 
     
     
       18. A vehicle management system as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the wayside devices are configured to communicate their status to the on-board controllers in response to interrogation requests therefrom. 
     
     
       19. A vehicle management system as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the intelligent on-hoard controllers are further configured such that when the guideway asset associated with a particular wayside device is no longer required by a said vehicle, the intelligent on-board controller associated with that vehicle sends a clearance request message to that particular wayside device and the data storage system via diverse paths; and
 wherein the wayside devices are further configured such that in response to a clearance request message from an intelligent on-board controller they clear the reservation upon receipt of a consistent message from said data storage system. 
 
     
     
       20. A method of managing guided vehicles running on a guideway, comprising:
 operating intelligent on-board controllers on each vehicle to control operation of the vehicle and negotiate movement needs of the vehicle with other vehicles in potential conflict; 
 stationary wayside devices located beside the guideway directly responding to commands from the intelligent on-board controllers to control guideway assets facilitating safe movement of the vehicle along the guideway along a desired route and associated with the wayside devices and required for the vehicles to move along the guideway, said wayside devices having a reserved and unreserved state, wherein in the reserved state the wayside devices and guideway assets associated therewith are reserved exclusively for use by a particular vehicle and respond only to commands from the particular vehicle, and wherein in the unreserved state said wayside devices are available for reservation by other vehicles running on the guideway 
 operating a data storage system to store system data including the reserved and unreserved state of said wayside devices; and 
 the intelligent on-board controllers: 
 a) continually communicating with on-board controllers on other vehicles in their vicinity to determine the availability of guideway assets needed for their associated vehicle to move along a section of the guideway, 
 b) communicating with the on-board controllers on other vehicles, the wayside devices and the data storage system to reserve the wayside devices associated with the needed assets for the exclusive use of their associated vehicle, and 
 c) releasing the reserved wayside devices into the unreserved state for use by other vehicles when no longer required by their associated vehicle. 
 
     
     
       21. A method as claimed in  claim 20 , wherein the on-board controllers negotiate and resolve potential conflicts with on-board controllers on other trains. 
     
     
       22. A method as claimed in  claim 21 , wherein the on-board controllers send a clearance release message to a proximate wayside device and the data storage system upon clearing a reserved section of guideway to make the reserved section available for use by another vehicle. 
     
     
       23. A method as claimed in  claim 22 , wherein the intelligent on-board controllers identify the next section of guideway required for the next leg of an assignment, and in response to information relating to the reservations made by other intelligent on-board controllers set the limit of authority based on the section they can safely reserve taking into account reservations of other vehicles, and wayside devices. 
     
     
       24. A method as claimed in  claim 20 , wherein at least some of the wayside devices detect new trains and log them into the data storage system. 
     
     
       25. A method as claimed in  claim 24 , wherein the on-board controllers obtain the status of other vehicles on the system from the data storage system upon entry in to the system. 
     
     
       26. A method as claimed in  claim 25 , wherein the on-board controllers obtain the reservation status of wayside devices in their vicinity upon entry into the system. 
     
     
       27. A method as claimed in  claim 26 , wherein the on-board controllers respond to commands from a vehicle supervision system to obtain destination information, and wherein the on-board controllers use the destination information to determine which sections of guideway they will need to reserve to enable the vehicle to proceed to the destination. 
     
     
       28. A method as claimed in  claim 27 , wherein the vehicle supervision system pre-approves reservations based on operational priorities, such that when a vehicle requests a reservation from the system the reservation is either accepted based on a prior approval or rejected due to another vehicle having a higher priority. 
     
     
       29. A method as claimed in  claim 20 , wherein the wayside devices control operation of the guideway assets and when reserved for a particular vehicle are responsive to commands from the on-board controller of that vehicle to set the operating state of the equipment they control. 
     
     
       30. A method as claimed in  claim 20 , wherein each on-board controller communicates its status arid location at intervals to the data storage system. 
     
     
       31. A method as claimed in  claim 20 , wherein when a vehicle reaches its limit of authority on a protected section without authority to enter the next section, the intelligent on-board controller on that vehicle stops the vehicle prior to leaving the protected section. 
     
     
       32. A method as claimed in  claim 20 , wherein the wayside devices communicate their status to the data storage system on a cyclic basis. 
     
     
       33. A method as claimed in  claim 32 , wherein the wayside devices communicate their status to the intelligent on-board controllers in response to interrogation requests therefrom. 
     
     
       34. A method as claimed in  claim 20 , wherein necessary data about guideway conditions and other vehicle locations and authorized movements are maintained in an on-board vehicle database, and safe movement algorithms are executed on an on-board computer to safely authorize the movement of vehicles without the use of guideway-side signaling equipment. 
     
     
       35. A method as claimed in  claim 34 , wherein an intelligent on-board controller associated with a vehicle keeps track of the position of all vehicles in the system and communicates with those vehicles to monitor changes in position and determine which vehicles, if any, could potentially be in a conflict with a movement plan of the vehicle. 
     
     
       36. A method as claimed in  claim 35 , wherein an intelligent on-board controller associated with a vehicle communicates with a wayside device to command the wayside device to change its state to ‘reserved’ so that no other vehicle can affect the state of the device, and once reserved for a particular vehicle, the wayside device can be commanded by that particular vehicle to control the guideway asset associated therewith. 
     
     
       37. A method as claimed in  claim 35 , wherein an intelligent on-board controller negotiates with the intelligent on-board controllers of its immediate ‘neighbour’ vehicles to ensure that a safe traversal of the guideway without conflict can be assured. 
     
     
       38. A method as claimed in  claim 20 , wherein when the guideway asset associated with a particular wayside device is no longer required by a said vehicle, the intelligent on-board controller associated with that vehicle sends a clearance message to that particular wayside device and the data storage system via diverse paths; and
 wherein in response to a request to clear a reservation from a said intelligent on-board controller the wayside devices clear a reservation upon receipt of a consistent message from said data storage system.